I'm Under the Flight Path

When the wind blows from the west to the east, it seems my apartment is right under the flight path for planes taking off from Logan. Its actually really cool to stand out on my deck and watch the planes bank to their left and fly over my apartment. If you watch closely, you can see how the wind pushes the plane out to sea, as it tries to bank left and head south.

At heart, I'm a trains guy, but its pretty cool watching planes too.

Updates to Porter Square Station

For the past year or so I've noticed that the MBTA has been making minor improvements to the station. There's new lighting down on the platform and new lighting on the mezzanine. Plus, they've fixed up all the escalators, and they all seem to be working now. [Knocks on wood. Did I just break the first rule of Porter Square Escalators? Rule #1: Never talk about the Porter Square Escalators, lest they break.] Plus, they've finally got all the message boards at the platform working again. Hooray.

Yesterday, I noticed that they've added some nice looking signs at the street level exit that direct riders to the 77/96 bus stop and the 83 bus stop. Plus, there's a great local Porter Square map in the mezzanine that shows the bus routes and local streets.

Its nice that they've added these small touches to the station, but were they really necessary? I've always considered the Porter Square station to be in relatively good shape. I'd imagine that the money for those small renovations would have been better spent fixing up the touristy stops. But hey, I just ride the T, I'm not in charge of the capital budget.

Hmmmm..... Maybe a T rider should be in charge of the capital budget??? Nah, that would make sense.

Tales From the T - Red Line Slow Zones - UPDATE

As soon I blog about slow zones on the Red Line, they seem to be corrected! Over the past week, I've noticed that the T has finally fixed the rail problems northbound between Harvard and Porter. It seems to me that the trains are back up to speed, instead of crawling along at 6 m.p.h. until halfway to Porter.

In addition, it seems the T has fixed the rails just outside of Harvard heading toward Central Square. For about the past 2 years the trains have crawled up the incline out of Harvard up to the crossover. Finally, though, we have been relieved. It probably saves a total of 30 seconds of commute time, but it feels so much faster.

One question remains though: Now that trains are back up to speed, will we see a return of the advertisement along the wall heading towards Central?

As they once pronounced on the ad for Dean's Home Furniture: "I Doubt It!"

[I found one Youtube link for Dean's Home Furniture, but its missing the good ole "I Doubt It!" audio. Apparently they were a shady, scamming furniture chain and closed shop in 2003. No wonder I haven't seen the commercial in years!]

Tales From the T - Red Line Slow Zones

This is neither a rant, nor a rave about the Red Line. For a lack of better terms , I'll call this an Info-Post.

If you're a regular rider of the Red Line between Harvard and Porter, you've probably noticed that the T crawls along the tracks at 6 m.p.h. just outside of Harvard northbound to Alewife. I think they may have found some fractures in the rail and have reduced the speed to prevent further damage. In the subway section between Harvard and Alewife, the rails are bound to concrete, instead of your typical wooden ties. As a result, its a bit more cumbersome to replace the rails than the rest of the Red Line.

On the other hand, there have been a number of slow zones lifted from the Red Line! Over in my neck of the woods, inbound trains are back to 50 mph between Central and Kendall, plus the Longfellow Bridge limit has been raised back to 40 mph. Plus, south siders can enjoy a 50 mph ride between JFK and North Quincy.

Many thanks to my fellow railroad pals posting on this thread over at railroad.net for the info.

Tales From the T - Porter Maintenance Spree

This morning, Thursday, it seemed as if the MBTA was on some sort of "surge" of its own - a maintenance spree at Porter Station. There were about 5 trucks parked all around the sidewalk and there were about 10-15 people working on random things. In my disbelief, I saw:

• 2 escalators actively being repaired
• 4 fare gates actively being cleaned and repaired
• Installation of a new 360 degree security camera

On my return home tonight, the middle escalator was still turned off, but ALL the faregates were working and there is a new Vegas-style security camera overlooking the entire mezzanine.

One question remains: will the camera actually be connected to anything? Or, in classic MBTA style, will it be purely for show?

I'll admit it - I'm convinced they're actually going to use it and monitor it. In the past few weeks, thanks to the security cameras, we've discovered a former T employee cashing in tokens for CharlieTickets and we've had suspects in the Back Bay Station stabbings apprehended.

Wow. That's 2 recent posts from me praising the T. I feel great!

Crime in Porter Square

One of my co-workers who lives in Porter Square let me know today that someone broke into his apartment last night. Apparently there was a "rash of break-ins" yesterday on the Cambridge side of the commuter rail tracks. So be on the lookout - and LOCK YOUR DOORS.

Just hearing that has kinda put me on edge all day today. Its one of those events that I'm constantly worried about. I've always thought that the Porter area is generally pretty safe. One of the reasons I moved from Boston over to Porter Square was the crime rate in Boston steadily rose over the 7 years I lived there.

So, after a bit of searching today, I found some links to the Cambridge and Somerville Police Logs.

• Cambridge: http://www.townonline.com/cambridge/police_and_fire_log
• Somerville: http://www.townonline.com/somerville/police_and_fire_log
  

I don't really read any of the local papers, so I don't keep up with the local happenings. Its really kinda sobering to read these logs and see all the arrests, robberies, and break-ins that happen -- especially when they happen right down the street from your own apartment!

This is just a reminder for me not to fall into a false sense of security. Make sure valuables are hidden and you've got renter's insurance.

Anyways, I need a beer now.... Well whaddya know - its Wednesday - and Wednesdays are for drinkin' at the People's. How convenient.

Ice Melt

I forgot to tell all you loyal readers (you exist, right?) -- the Hardware store in Porter Square had a sign on the door letting all of us Porterites know that Ice Melt will arrive on Monday! Hooray!

(I'm still hoarding about 1/4 of a bucket - and you can't have it)

I Like Porter Square

I really like living over here in Porter Square. The shopping center has pretty much everthing I need - Shaw's, Ace Hardware, and of course, Liquor World (my favorite).

Man, I am such a bachelor. I went out to Ace today and bought a bucket, a mop, and some hardwood floor cleaner. When I moved over here I left all my cleaning stuff at my old apartment and finally got around to getting some new cleaning supplies. Thanks to my New Year's Party, the NFL playoffs, and my Superbowl party, my floors are filthy. I knew it was time to finally clean the floor when I was walking around in my socks and they were sticking to the floor everywhere.

I don't currently have a girlfriend, so there's no motivation for me to keep my place spic and span. That's a pretty sad statement, isn't it?

Well, enough blogging for now. Time to keep on moppin'.